| Time: |
February 15, 2010 |
| Lecturer: |
Dr. Bruno Belvedere
Researcher, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Italy |
| Venue: |
Pfaffenwaldring 61, Raum U1.003 (MML), Universität Stuttgart
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| Download as iCal: |
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Distributed generation by means of traditional systems or more innovative type, such as Fuel Cell, solar PhotoVoltaic or Thermo-PhotoVoltaic systems, allows the pursuit of various advantages in continuity of service and in customer participation to the electricity market. These opportunities could be fostered by allowing the operation also in islanded conditions, i.e. also when the electric generator is disconnected from the main grid. The above mentioned capability to operate in islanded mode is made possible by the presence of energy storage devices and by the implementation of automatic Systems devoted to the Demand side Management.The development of automatic scheduling systems for the coordinated operation of electrical power generation, storage, as well as devices for the voltage/reactive power control, which can be overall considered as Distributed Energy Resources, is the object of intensive research activity in recent years, as also shown by the growing literature on the subject. However, additional research effort appears to be needed to develop automatic systems suitable for residential applications, in order to take into account all the technical characteristics and constraints of the various components.In particular, the experimental research activity carried out by the presenter, at the laboratories of the University of Bologna, gave rise to the development of a dedicated test-rig that takes into account the case in which distributed generators of innovative type are adopted and limited storage resources are available.In the studied case a microcontroller-based automatic scheduling system for the operation and control of the distributed energy sources connected to residential electric power installations is presented. The considered residential electric power micro-grid is assumed to include various distributed energy sources, such as fuel cells and photovoltaic systems, and an energy storage device, such as a battery unit connected to the system through a voltage-source bi-directional power electronic converter, which allows the load balancing by means of the battery charge and discharge in every operating condition. The automatic scheduling system is implemented in a microcontroller, which consists of a Digital Signal Processor and a Field Programmable Gate Array. The performance of the system and the operating behavior of the energy management is verified by using an experimental test-rig equipped with a PEM FC, a battery storage system equipped with a specific power electronic converter, a photovoltaic array emulator and controllable active and reactive loads of few kilowatts which are able to reproduce different load profiles.
